Hopper door of cast metal



May 19, 1931. .G. G. GILPlN HOPPER DOOR 0F CAST METAL Filed Jan. 27, 1928 2 Sheets-Shet l Adam May '19, 1931. G. G. GILPIN I HOPPER DOOR OF CAST METAL Filed Jan. 27, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Z1 uenlor (farZ/l/ G. Liiuin/ Fatented May 19, 1 931 I V, UNITED STATES PAT NT OFFICE v GARTH G. GILPIN, or mimnsmn, IL INOIS, hssIGNonToUivIon METAL rnonucrs COMPANY, or c IcAG iLL Nors, A CORPORATION or DELAWARE normanoor. or CAST METAL Application filed January 27,1928. Serial No. 250,001.

My invention relates to the. construction of railway cars having dI'OPfldOOISfSUChELS hopper cars, tom or general service gondola cars, mill type gondolas havin drop end doors, or the like, having a door orming a part of the car for retaining the load'therein, which door; is provided with hinges adjacent one of its edges and is capable of being dropped or swung open. Any means of raising the door to the closedzpositionand any means for locking andreleasing the door may be employed with my; device. a

A door for .this purpose must be very strong and durable because:. First, '1; is a partzof the floor of the car and as such must sustain the load as well as the impact blow of the load when the car is inmotion.

loaded fromrchutesor :tipples from a height Second, the .car is frequently oftenfeet or more, causing the load to'be dropped directlyupon the doors. Third, clam shell bucketsare frequently usedftounload such .cars and it is not uncommon for these buckets torestupon and dragover the doors. Fourth, when the door suddenly comes to rest afterbeing dropped, it is not only subjected; to a severe shock'but it must sustainthe'severe impactthrust of the load 36 which of course follows the door. Fifth, as

the loadis theoretically equally distributed, the door must be strongover itsentire area and must be capable oft'ransmitting the resulting stresses to the carbody without much deflection and'no substantial distortion. Any bending ofthe door ordroopingof the corners would cause a .leak of the, lading, especially of such fine, material as sand, chats, etc. Any bending ori warping might inter fere with the completeclosingwand locking "of the door.

An. object of the inventionis to providea door of cast metal, preferablyfmalleable iron or cast steel, having apanel portion forming a floor or wallof a car and to reinforcesuch panel with cast integral members and to form andshape theentire door so thatit will'not be deformed by warping when cooling,,and furthermore, will eliminate shrinkage cracks and "internalstresses. I

hopper gondola cars, drop b'ot- Bothcast metal and annealed cast metal offer, greater resistance to corrosion (and similar chemicalactions) then rolled steel owing to the texture of the metal. When rolled steel is deformed between dies (whether heated or not) the fibres on the tension side of1th'e metal are opened up or separated by stretching, whilethe fibres on the compression side of the metal are forced together and upset; Both such opening up and upsetting actions disrupts the homogeneityof the fibres, thus permitting the entrance of moisture therebetween. and augmenting corrosion, therefore, another object is toprovide a door morecapable to; resist corrosion, Railway cars are not onlysubject to the usual atmosphericconditions but are subject to chemical actions of certainloads, such as, for-instance,

wet coal which formssulphuric acid.

In the drawingsz, ,Fig. 11 shows a-portionof a railwaycar with my device applied thereon. p i

- Fig. 2 isasection on line 2-2 of; Fig.1., Fig. 3 is a section on line 33 of Fig. 1.-

';Fig. 4 is a detail of the door from the underside.v x f I I Fig. 5 is a section on line 55 of Fig. 4:. 1 Fig. v6 is a section on line 6-6 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 7 is a modified form of theinvention.

In-c'asting a doorhavingan integral depending flange extending around all four of its sides, the liquid metal is preferably poured through a plurality of gates into the panel portion of the door from'whence it flows into the integral flange. The lower portion of the flange, therefore, cools first and offers resistance to" the contraction ex- 'erted by the co0ling,pa nel,portion.- Ifa flange, the cooling of the panelportion would break one end (ormay be both ends) ofthe transverse rib away from the integral flange or cause; a rupture of the lower side of the transverse .rib. These are called shrinkage cracks. The relatively cool perimeter of the panel (i. e., the integral flange) may offer sufficient resistance to the contraction of the cooling panel to crack the panel. Sometimes these stresses are not sufficientto crack and sever the metal but cause internal (latent) stresses which when increased by a load imposed upon the door become suflicient to (and do) break the door.

the door completely closes this opening and in fact is a trifle larger on all sides than the opening so as to provide a. lap joint between the door and the car frame member. The doors are hinged to the center construction and are supported adjacent the side wall by the raising or locking mechanism. Any convenient stop may be used to limit the downward-movement of the door.

The cast metal door comprises a panel 5 with a continuous depending. integral flange 6 extending around all four sides of the panel. The door is provided with one or more primary reinforcing ribs 7 with their opposite ends 8 terminating within the panel adj acent opposite portions of the depending flange so that any load imposed thereon is carried to points near the depending flange. These ribs preferably increase in depth toward their middle portions. I also provide other or secondary ribs 9'extending substantially normal to and merginginto the first mentioned ribs 7 and which preferably ex tend therebeyond (10) and merge into the panel adjacent the flange 6 at 11. 'Ihese secondary ribs 9 transmit any load imposed upon them to the main ribs 7 and to the depending flange 6. I I

As the panel portionof the door :cools there is a tendency to elongate the transverse reinforcing ribs causing a stretching of the tension side of the rib, therefore, I prefer to form them on the arcs of a circle or to wave them, or broadly speaking, to form them in some other than a straight line, as shown by 1213 in Fig.7.

When the'reinforcing ribs are curved certain of them preferably terminate into the panel adjacent the corners of thedoor, as shown in Fig. 7.

\Vebs 1415 may be provided -which spring from the panel and extend toward and merge into portions offlthe depending flange which are preferably. positioned between the primary (or secondary) ribs and also preferably have an overlapping relation therewith.

The hinge lugs 16 are cast integral with the depending flange 6 and some of the reinforc ing ribs preferably terminate into the panel adjacent the integral hinge lugs so as to carry their'stresses to the hinges.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the preferred form of the invention, though it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the exact details of construction shown and described, as it is obvious that various modifications thereof within the scope of the claims will occur to persons skilled in the art.

In applications Serial No. 249,999; No. 250,000, Nos. 250,002 and 250,003 all filed January 27, 1 928, I have disclosed and claimed certain-features disclosed but not claimed herein.

.I claim:

1. A hinged door for a railway car consisting of an integral casting comprising a panel having a smooth surface on one side withxa continuous flange adjacent its. perimeter varyingdepth reinforcing ribs terminating within the panel adjacent the opposite portions of the flange, and other reinforcing ribs angularly disposed to and merging into the first mentioned ribs.

2. A hinged door for a railway car consisting of an integral casting comprising a panel having a smooth surface on one-side with a continuous flange adjacent its perimeter varying depth reinforcing ribs terminating within the panel adjacent the opposite portions of the flange, and other reinforcing ribs angularly disposed to .and merging into the first mentioned ribs .and extending therebeyond and merging into the panel adjacent other portions of the flange.

'3. A hinged door for a railway car consisting of-an integral casting comprising a panel with a continuous flange adjacent its perimeter, varying depth curved reinforcing ribs terminating within the panel adjacent the opposite portions of'the flange, and other reinforcing ribs angularly disposed to and merging into the first mentioned ribs.

4. A hinged door for a railway car consisting of an integral casting comprising a panel with a continuous flange adjacent its perimeter, varying depth curved reinforcing ribs terminating within the panel adjacent the oppositeportions of the -flange. near the corners of the door, and other reinforcing ribs "angularly disposed to and merging into the first mentioned ribs. I 5. A hlnged door for a railway car consistmg of an integral casting compris ng'a panel -with a continuous flange adjacent its perim- -eter, varying depth curved reinforcing ribs terminating within the panel adjacent the opposite portions of the flange, and other curved reinforcing ribs angularly disposed to and merging into the first mentioned ribs.

6. A hinged door for a railway car consistingof an integralcasting comprising a panel wlth a continuous flange adjacent its perim- 1 eter, varylng depth curved reinforcing ribs terminating within the panel adjacent the opposite portions of the flange, and other curved reinforcing ribs :angularly disposed to and merging into the first mentioned ribs ago and extending therebeyond and mergin into ghe panel adjacent other portions 0 the ange. a a 7 A hinged door for a railway car consisting of an integral casting comprising a panel having a smooth surface on one side, a plurality of ribs merging intothe panel adjacent the margins thereof, and a plurality of ribs angularly disposed to the first mentioned,

ribs merging into the panel adjacent the margins thereof. 7 I a t for a railway car consist- 8. A hinged door ing of an integral casting comprising a panel having a smooth surface on one side, a plu rality of varying depth ribs merging into the panel adjacent the margins thereof, and

a plurality of varying depth ribs angularly disposed to the first mentioned ribs merging into the panel adjacent the margins thereof. 7

GARTH G. ,GILPIN. 

